


Guys and Dolls

by tisziny



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: AU, F/M, Fluff, fluffathon, river/doctor fluffathon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 17:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/826890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tisziny/pseuds/tisziny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At home, visiting her parents, River and the Doctor spend some quality time with the youngest Pond, Anthony.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guys and Dolls

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the River/Doctor Fluffathon.
> 
> Prompt: In an interview, Alex Kingston said, “How many babies have slept in that cot.” That quote.  
> Written for: http://the-doctors-psychopath.tumblr.com/

His first impression when she opened the door was how good she looked. Yes she still wore those round reading glasses, and yes she had a few more lines on her face since the last time he’d seen her, but she smiled so fully when she saw him, her eyes so bright and alive. It made his hearts seize with pride. Her happily-ever-after suited her.

“Amelia Pond!” he beamed and he swooped in for a hug.

Amy laughed, “You’re actually on time for once, come on.”

“Of course I’m on time,” he said as he walked into the house, “I’m always on time.”

She snorted, and led him through to the kitchen. Rory looked up from the large mixing bowl in his arms and smiled. “On time then,” he said, “That’s good.”

The Doctor pouted, “No need to sound so surprised about it.”

Amy ignored his sulking, “River’s upstairs.” She told him simply, smirking as she saw his face brighten. He straightened his bowtie, smoothed his hair and turned to Amy his arms open.

“How do I look?”

“Oh just go up the bloody stairs.”

The Doctor didn’t let this deter him. He just smiled, turned on his heel and left the kitchen. He moved up the stairs quickly and happily and looked around for any sign of his wife. Walking slowly down the hall he heard voices coming from what had once been River’s room. He smiled and slowed his pace, walking quietly toward the open door.

Looking inside he saw Anthony, Amy and Rory’s adopted son sitting on his bedroom floor. The boy didn’t look up as the Doctor settled in the doorway, and neither did his sister. River sat on the back of her feet, one hand in front of her pressing to the carpet to support her weight. She had her back to the door, and an action figure in her right hand.

“Oh no!” she said in a deep voice, obviously supposed to be a man’s, “Someone has broken into my house and taken all my favourite things! If only there was someone to help me!”

“Woosh!” Anthony waved his hand through the air, his fingers clutched around a small blue and red superhero. “I will help you!”

“Spiderman?!”

“I am gonna find your stuff, and get the bad guy!” Anthony said, and in his other hand he held a different action figure, with green hair and a purple coat. He passed the figure to River, “Here, you be him too.”

River shifted, sitting so she could hold both toys at once, “Oh no, Spiderman!” she said in a very different voice, and then she switched back to the first voice, “My things! Look Spiderman, he has all my nice things! Get him!”

“I’m going to stop you, bad guy!” Anthony said,

“No you won’t!” River made the Joker doll say, and she turned, her arm moving out as she made him run away,

“Woosh, woosh!” Anthony stood up and walked with his Spiderman figure, making him bound from objects in the room like Spiderman would swing from buildings.

River continued to turn, not looking up from her action figure as Anthony followed with Spiderman. It wasn’t until he shouted, “Doctor!” that she noticed him and blushed a very deep and un-River-like shade of red.

The Doctor beamed and crouched down to Anthony’s height, letting the boy launch himself at his brother in law. He stood up, hugging the boy tightly and spinning around before setting him down again. “What are you and River playing?”

“Superheroes! I’m Spiderman, see?” Anthony held out his action figure for the Doctor to look at, he smiled.

“Oh wow, that is cool isn’t it?” he enthused, “Do you mind if I play too?”

Anthony nodded, “You can be, uhm…” He thought about it trying to pick which action figure the Doctor could play,

“Don’t worry, I brought my own.” The Doctor reached into his pocket and pulled out a Barbie doll with blonde hair. River raised her eyebrows questioningly, her cheeks finally returning to the usual golden colour. But the Doctor payed no mind to her looks as he lowered himself to the ground with as much grace as Bambi trying to walk on ice. “Hello, dear.” He murmured,

“How long had you been standing there?” River demanded,

“Only a few moments.” He smirked,

“Woosh!!” Anthony jumped in before River could reply, and Spiderman tackled the Joker to the ground. “I’ve got you!”

River stared down at her hands, the red blush creeping back up across her face. “Come on River, we’re playing.” Anthony prompted when she didn’t react.

“Of course we are, yes. Sorry, Ant honey.” She swallowed, and avoiding the Doctor’s gaze she said in her deep Joker voice, “Oh no! How did you catch me?!”

“I’m Spiderman!” Anthony beamed, “I save the day and catch the bad guys!” River let Antony take the Joker figure from her hand and carry it across the room, “And now I’m putting you in jail!”

He left the Joker across the room, then wooshed Spiderman back over to River who held up her original action figure along with the Doctor’s Barbie. “Here I got all your stuff from the bad guy.”

The Doctor cut in, his voice high pitched and feminine, “Oh honey, did you hear? We have all of our favourite things back!”

“We do? How did that happen?” River asked, changing voices, still unable to look up from her hand as her cheeks burnt red.

“Spiderman saved the day!”

“Thank you Spiderman!”

Anthony grinned and wooshed Spiderman away, happy to focus on his own play rather than the Doctor and River behind him.

“Oh husband, I am so glad you called Spiderman to save all our things! I love you so much!” The Doctor said, still in the Barbie’s high voice, “Mwa!” He pressed the dolls face to the face of River’s action figure.

River looked up to see the Doctor smiling hopefully at her and pucker his lips. She laughed, whacking him playfully with the action figure before leaning in and kissing him softly.

“I love you too.” She murmured in her own voice.

“And I, you, wife.”

She kissed him again and Anthony wrinkled his nose, “Kissing is icky!” he said, running forward, breaking them apart. River laughed, dropping the action figure and wrapping her arms around her brother.

“Oh it is, is it?” she asked,

Anthony nodded and River smirked, “Well then you leave me no choice but to unleash the kissing monster!” She held him tight and pressed her lips to his face, kissing him all over his cheeks and forehead as he squirmed and laughed,

“No, no!” he giggled, “Doctor!”

“I’ll save you,” The Doctor said, and he scooped the boy out of River’s arms. River grinned and leant up to kiss the Doctor chastely, “Oh no! The evil kissing monster has infected me!” He stood up, his hands tucked under Anthony’s arms as he held him in the air, “Now I’m a kissing monster too!”

Anthony screwed up his eyes as he laughed, the Doctor kissing him everywhere he could reach across the small boy’s face. “Ahh!! Mummy, save me!!”

“Mummy!” the Doctor said, aghast, “My only weakness!” He set the boy down and watched as he ran from the room to find his mother.

River chuckled, standing up and brushing the Doctor’s arm with her own. “You’re good with him.”

“So are you.”

She bit her lip on the smile that threatened to spill onto her face and looked down, her fingers linking with the Doctor’s. “We should follow him.” She said simply, and she began to walk, pulling the Doctor along behind her.

They made their way down the stairs and stepped into the kitchen just in time to hear Anthony say, “Mummy! The Doctor and River were kissing!”

Amy wrinkled her nose, “Ew.” She said and Anthony nodded, poking his tongue out in exaggerated disgust. The redhead laughed and shot River and the Doctor a smirk as Anthony ran from the room, whooshing loudly to continue play with his Spiderman figure.

The Doctor blushed, and dropped River’s hand so he could busy himself with tucking his Barbie back into his coat pocket. River rolled her eyes.

“Have you told him yet?” Amy asked as she picked up the kettle and filled it with water at the sink.

“Not yet.” River said, her stance tightening slightly.

Amy sighed and opened a cupboard, pulling out four mugs and placing them on the counter. The Doctor frowned in naïve confusion, “Who’s telling who what?” he asked.

“Nothing, sweetie,”

“Melody.” The Doctor raised his eyebrows at Amy’s stern mothering tone, “Tell him.”

“Not yet,” River insisted. “It’s too… it’s too early, Mother.”

Rory snorted from where he sat at the table, newspaper in hand. “Early for you or for him?” he asked, not looking up.

“Both.”

The Doctor scratched his cheek and looked between them all quickly with a frown, “Are any of you going to start explaining anytime soon? It’s very confusing. You’re all talking but none of you are  _saying_  anything.”

Amy looked at River sternly, but River just stared straight back. “There’s nothing to explain, sweetie.” She said without breaking her mother’s gaze,

“But-”

Rory cut in before the Doctor could finish, “Amy. Leave it be. She’ll tell him when she’s ready.” With a defeated  _‘hmph’_ the redhead broke and turned away from her daughter, setting about making them all tea.

River relaxed. “Thank you, Dad.”

“Yeah well,” he said, peering over the paper at her, “You still need to tell him eventually.”

“River, is something wrong?” the Doctor asked, his voice low and concerned, his hands reaching for her, seeking to comfort or be comforted.

“No, sweetie.” River whispered, and she took his hand, squeezing it in her own, “I promise you nothing is wrong.”

“Then what is it?”

She shook her head, but before she could speak Anthony ran back into the room, grabbing one of River and the Doctor’s hands in each of his own. “You gotta come play with me!” he insisted, pulling them away from the kitchen.

He pulled them into the living room and picked up a baby doll from the settee, handing it to the Doctor. The Doctor accepted the doll and looked down at it curiously.

“What’s this?” he asked, “Or really I should say, who’s this?”

“Your baby!” Anthony explained happily, “We are playing families.”

The Doctor smiled, “Oh of course, hello, baby.” He turned to Anthony, “Baby says that he’s tired, does he have a cot to sleep in?”

Anthony frowned, “Babies can’t talk.”

“No, I suppose they can’t, can they? But the thing is; I can speak baby.” The Doctor smiled, “I speak everything.”

River rolled her eyes fondly, “Don’t lie to him, sweetie. You do not speak baby.”

“I’m not lying!” the Doctor defended, “I’ll prove it to you.” He raised the baby close to his ear, pretending to listen. “Yes, just as I thought. Baby says he’s still tired, but he wants to cuddle Mummy.”

“Mummy?” River asked as the Doctor held out the doll to her. “What, me?”

“Of course  _you_ ,” The Doctor scoffed, “who else am I likely to have a baby with?”

She stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, and he stared back. He swallowed awkwardly, very much aware of what he’d just admitted to her

“Right then,” River said after a long pause, “I suppose I had better cuddle baby, then.”

The Doctor beamed, watching as River accepted the doll from his arms and cradled it as if it was very much real. She swallowed thickly as she looked down at the dolls plastic face, and the Doctor noticed with a slight frown that tears were forming in her eyes.

“River?” he asked,

“Yes, sweetie?”

He shuffled his weight awkwardly as he watched her concerned and unsure. “Are, uh, are you okay?”

She nodded, “I’m perfect, sweetie. Really.”

“You’re crying.”

River looked up at him and her eyes shone, but not just from the tears. There was something else, something about her that just… sparkled. She was smiling through her tears and still holding the doll with one arm she reached out a hand to grasp his.

“Happy tears.” She whispered.

“Oh.” He smiled, lacing their fingers together, “Why?”

River laughed, and looked down at the baby doll. “Anthony honey, will you please take baby to bed?”

Anthony nodded and took the baby from his sister, running from the room leaving River and the Doctor quite alone. River wiped at her eyes, then stepped in close and kissed her husband. He kissed her back easily, his hands finding her waist. Pulling back barely a fraction of an inch River spoke, her eyes closed. She was still so close to the Doctor that her lips brushed his with each word.

“I’m pregnant, sweetie.”


End file.
